UConn men knock off No. 25 Harvard thanks to terrific second half

The Crimson may be nationally-ranked for the first time in the program's long history, but they're not quite in UConn's class. Not yet, anyway.

The ninth-ranked Huskies clamped down defensively in the second half and simply had too much size and athleticism (namely, too much Jeremy Lamb and Andre Drummond) for No. 25 Harvard Thursday night in a 67-53 win at Gampel Pavilion.

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Lamb tossed in a game-high 18 points, to go with seven rebounds and three steals, while Drummond added 12 points -- 10 of them on thunderous slam dunks that put a charge through the sellout crowd.

"That's one of the best stats we've had on the year," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "When you're as big as strong as (Drummond), finesse doesn't come into the picture."

No, the Crimson -- a heady, veteran team that recently won the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament -- won't see the likes of Drummond in Ivy League competition this season.

"Six-11, as big as he is, as athletic as he is, he certainly blocks shots," Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said, shaking his head. "It's hard to get anything over him."

Still, the Huskies (8-1) were spearheaded by their guard play. Freshman Ryan Boatright added 11 points off the bench and Shabazz Napier overcame a subpar shooting night (3-for-10) and had seven assists and four steals to go with nine points.

UConn had as much as an eight-point first-half lead sliced down to two (30-28) at the break. Lamb came out in the latter half and quickly buried a long 3-pointer, and Napier and Boatright added treys of their own to highlight a 17-3 start that gave the Huskies their biggest lead.

Harvard hit just one of 12 shots to start the latter half.

"I thought, defensively, we dominated them," Calhoun said.

The Crimson hung tough, however, and climbed back to within seven (58-51) after a Kyle Casey 3-pointer with 4:52 left, and visions of a 17-point blown lead to Central Florida in the Bahamas had to be dancing in the Huskies' heads.

Tyler Olander knocked down a jumper, Harvard's Brandyn Curry traveled and Alex Oriakhi hit one of two free throws. After Curry hit a left-handed bank shot with 2:55 left, the Crimson wouldn't score again, with UConn notching the game's final six points.

Drummond scored UConn's first four points on dunks off passes from Napier and Olander. He added a monster putback jam of a Boatright miss midway through the first half and another midway through the latter half. His lone non-dunk was an inside basket late in the first half.

"I'd rather dunk than do a layup," Drummond said with a smile.

For the first time this season, Drummond played without the protective face mask he's been wearing since breaking his nose in a preseason practice.

"I could see a lot better," he said. "My peripheral vision was a lot better. I could see my defender moving."

"I'd do anything to get that off my face."

Olander added seven points and six rebounds off the bench for UConn. Casey was Harvard's lone double-figures scorer, with 12.

UConn breaks for semester exams and doesn't play again until Dec. 18 against Holy Cross in Hartford.